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Case Report
 
Long-term follow-up after intravenous injection of massive volume of mercury: A case report
Yinglu Hao1, Yanping Li1
1Department of Cardiology, People's Hospital of Yuxi City, Yunnan Province.

Article ID: 100001E03YH2016
doi:10.5348/E03-2016-1-CR-1

Address correspondence to:
Yinglu Hao
Department of Cardiology, People's Hospital of Yuxi City
Yunnan Province

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How to cite this article
Hao Y, Li Y. Long-term follow-up after intravenous injection of massive volume of mercury: A case report. Edorium J Emerg Dis 2016;1:1–4.


Abstract
Introduction: Mercury is the only metal that exists in liquid form at room temperature. It has no essential biological function. It is used in manufacturing switches, thermometers, and sphygmomanometers. Mercury is also used in extraction of gold and silver. Besides, it is used in pesticides and tooth fillings. Exposure to mercury can cause mercury poisoning which is also known as hydrargyria or mercurialism. Exposure can be by inhalation, ingestion or injection. Self-injection of mercury is very rare but is well documented. Although hydrargyrism has been reported well hydrargyrism via intravenous injection is rarely reported. Here we present a case of a 19-year-old boy who injected himself with massive volume of metallic mercury.
Case Report: A 19-year-old man injected himself intravenously in the left elbow with about 15 ml of metallic mercury. He complained of dizziness, chest tightness, hemoptysis, dyspnea, malaise, sweating, soreness of waist and bloody sputum for a day and was sent to the hospital immediately. X-ray showed a large number of scattered metalic substance in bilateral lung fields, and distributed along vascular channelsall over the body. He was treated with large dose of DMPS and supportive therapy, but he expired after two hospitalizations in eight months.
Conclusion: In cases of hydrargyrism with huge volume, only drug therapy may not enough. Vascular intervention therapy maybe more effective in acute period, which can remove the residual of mercury. This may improve the clinical outcome.

Keywords: Hydrargyrism, Intravenous injection, Outcome


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Author Contributions
Yinglu Hao – Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Yanping Li – Analysis and interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of submission
The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of support
None
Conflict of interest
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright
© 2016 Yinglu Hao et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.